Subjective TV broadcasts lack credibility

When Angelo Castro Jr. passed away, VIPs and ordinary viewers alike eulogized him as an exceptionally fine broadcast journalist. They characterized his demise as “the end of an era” in TV news and public affairs. Indeed, they don’t make them like they used to.

Angelo was cited for his objectivity and respect for news as news, rather than the currently fashionable “infotainment.” With his good looks and expressive voice, he really didn’t need to “jazz up” his delivery, as other less gifted newscasters and anchors feel they have to do these days to keep viewers interested.

Much less did he feel the need to “personalize” the news by opining or otherwise reacting to events he reported on. He respected the news and his viewers too much to shift the focus to himself and what he thought and felt about it.

Some people in broadcast news thought that his style of delivery was old-hat, that the TV audience wanted greater excitement and “highlighting” in newscasts.  This jazzing-up of the news has subsequently distracted viewers from the objective report of the news itself, and the viewers have become the poorer for it.

Pugnacious

Another criticism was that Castro reported the news in English. These days, news broadcasts in Filipino are more popular.  Language aside, however, his objectivity was his strong suit, and younger broadcast reporters and anchors should bear in mind this first tenet of journalism.  They should resist the pressure to perform onscreen and concentrate instead on reporting news simply and judiciously.

Broadcasting today has devolved into a style of delivery one can only refer to as bugoy.  Prime exponents of this phenomenon are “talents” who first made their mark on the radio-TV scene as “commentators” and self-styled defenders of the masa (mass). When they graduated to anchoring newscasts, they brought with them their subjective and pugnacious style. This may have increased their popularity with the working classes, but it has certainly diminished the credibility of their reportage in the minds of serious viewers.

Other newscasters have added comedy and sarcasm to their bag of tricks, coming across not as reporters but as sassy entertainers.

Emulating Castro

When Castro was laid to rest, many of today’s broadcast journalists paid glowing, even emotional, tributes to him. Were they only paying lip service in their tributes or will they emulate Castro and uphold the rules of objective reporting that he represented and the true public service that he rendered?

Given the distracting excesses of today’s TV news broadcasts, that seems like wishful thinking. But only in doing so can they put paid to the sentiments expressed in their eulogies.

Broadcast journalism is no longer what it used to be, but it is not too late for today’s crop of TV broadcast “stars” to redeem themselves by emulating Angelo Castro Jr.’s sterling example.